Roll4it - LaylaTVS - Three Sins
by OberonNaga
Summary: An alternate take on the beginning of Season 2 Episode 15 "Sinful War" of Roll4it's Layla the Vampire Slayer - Complete for now
1. Three Sins

**Three Sins**

As Ned came barreling down the hallway toward the back of the group of would-be killers, Rob fought back the urge to facepalm. The rugby player never seemed to have patience anymore and that bottomless stomach of his was an almost constant thorn in his sides during his planning. Perhaps devouring their former friends would finally sate Ned's appetite for a time. Charity was, as usual, not paying much attention to the chaos that would be erupting in a matter of seconds and was sizing up Layla in a way that Rob had grown quite familiar with over the past few nights. "Damnit Ned, I told you to wait!"

"No waiting. Eat them!" Ned charged right for Violet, though Barnaby was quick to step in the way and stop Ned in his tracks. The former demon husk of his dead twin certainly had the strength of his father, though it likely wouldn't help against Ned's teeth. Violet was pulling something out of her bag when Janet punched her in the face. It didn't look like it did any significant damage, but Rob had to stifle a laugh. Standing before himself and Charity and they have time to squabble among themselves. _They are ignoring you. You are nothing to them._ Rob grit his teeth as he started moving forward, Charity turning in his direction with a raised eyebrow and a predatory smirk. Rob wasn't sure whether she wanted to fight the team or go somewhere else and strip his armor off, but he had no time for the latter. As he went to tell her off, Rob noticed Imogen moving her hands in a specific way, holding a rock. He didn't know whether or not she was trying to blind everyone so that the group could spring the trap or just hurt Charity. They were fools to underestimate him either way.

"Sun" Charity's eyes widened as she dove past him under a thick tarp that he had brought for just this eventuality.

Imogen had just finished her incantation and suddenly everything was white. "Okay, Barnaby hold Ned down! Rob, listen to me." Rob switched on the black out glasses that he had made for just this occasion. If it was normal sunlight he would barely be able to see, but with Imogen's light a few meters from him, he could see everything clearly. "Rob, we are your friends! I have known you for years. I would never hurt you!" Rob felt a twinge of guilt inside him. She sounded so sincere. _Imogen always lies_. "Please, Rob you're being controlled by something. You have to fight it off." Controlled? He felt entirely in control. _She's trying to confuse you. It's a distraction. Be wary of the others._ Rob saw Layla move up toward him, mostly blind but still closing in.

"You won't catch me off guard with that." The railgun fired, and Imogen never saw the shot coming. The stake dug strait through her chest and out her back with a burst of gore. The light died as she lost concentration on the spell. She fell to her knees coughing blood and staring at him with wide eyes. Layla blinked as the light faded and turned to regard her girlfriend in shock. Imogen's features softened again. "It's alright Rob. I don't blame you for it. We haven't been the best friends we could for you. Please…you have to...fight…it" Imogen's eyes faded as she hit the ground, blood beginning to pool under her. Rob was struck by that. Why would she keep up the façade to the end? Why was his vision cloudy? Did she cast some last-ditch blindness spell?

Suddenly he had a pair of hands fisting themselves through his armor and over the shirt he wore under it. Layla was in front of his face-plate, tears freely running down her face. "Wrath, Robert! You are possessed by Wrath. It's why your so angry right now. Please, you have to understand!" Wrath? Everything has been irritating him lately. Maybe. _She has a hold of you. She is going to take that dagger in her pocket and kill you with it!_

Rob brought his arm up to break Layla's grip and then threw her several meters back "Shut up!" Layla caught herself looking a bit stunned. It seemed she finally noticed he wasn't weak anymore. As Layla moved to intercept him again, he gripped the staff harder as he lifted his arm. He would kill her just like he killed Imogen. Imogen. He had shot the first real friend he had ever had. He shot her in the chest and now she was laying in a pool of her slowly cooling blood, likely dead. Rob grabbed his head. Layla was closing in, but Charity intercepted her. The slayers were fighting now. At least Charity can handle a demon possessed Slayer. Wait, Charity is also demon possessed. He planned this whole thing because Layla was a demon possessed. Why was he working with Charity?

 _She is on your side. You can trust her_. She tried to kill me any number of times. Why can't I think straight? _You only killed one of them. You have more enemies._

 **No, I don't. The only enemy I had was Charity. Now she's on my side. I wouldn't work with a Vampire to kill my friends.**

 _They aren't your friends._

 **Of course they are! This is what they were saying. You're in my head, forcing me to kill my friends.**

 _You had the potential, I just coaxed you along._

 **Liar!**

 _You already said I am in your head. If you are so certain that you don't have it in you, why haven't you thrown me off yet_

 **Because I need your power for a few more minutes.** Rob dropped the hand from his helmet, metal creaking as he dislodged the gauntlet from the furrows it had dug into his helmet. He looked around the room. Ned was leaning over Violet, trying to bite her. Barnaby was leaning against a wall holding his bleeding side that had a piece torn out of it while Janet was over by Im… Violet gave Ned a good kick in the face before Barnaby tackled him off of her. Layla was barely standing, a stake wound in her side and one of her arms looked broken. Charity had a busted lip and deep cuts on her arms, but it seems she was able to keep the blade from doing too much damage.

 _What are you going to do, boy?_

 **Sin.** Rob moved up to Charity as she finally disarmed Layla and knocked her to the ground. Charity tossed the knife haphazardly over her shoulder, where it inbedded itself in a thick, metal table to the handle.

Charity turned to look at him. "Now how am I supposed to look at that pretty face of yours if you keep your armor on, Rob?"

Rob entered a code into his suit and the armor compacted itself. "Better?" His voice sounded off even to him.

Charity's grin fell for a moment. "What's the matter my little Bear? Your crying."

Rob smiled, tears flowing freely. "Yes, I am" Charity's reflex speed was amazing. She almost managed to plunge the stake into his heart before he broke her neck with a twist. Her body crumpled to the floor, unmoving except her eyes. "I'm sorry Charity, but I think it is time for Katherine to get a turn driving." He moved toward the others. "Barnaby, I have him. Go seal Charity so you can figure out how to re-ensoul her."

 _What are you doing? They are our allies. You are betraying our oldest allies!_

 **Wouldn't be the first time.** Barnaby was slow on the update, so Rob grabbed Ned out from the scrum he was in with Barnaby and threw him against the wall. As Ned was shaking his head from a magic effect Violet had cast on him, Rob slammed his forearm against his throat, holding him in place. **Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust. It makes so much sense now.**

Barnaby turned to look at him. "Rob, are you back to normal" At his nod, Barnaby stood up. "We need to break Ned out of it like your were."

Rob looked at him, ignoring Ned's indignant struggles and snapping. "I have it handled. Please, go help Katherine."

Janet ( _the traitor,_ **Enough!** ) was looking between him and Charity. "Why? Why should we help her? She killed my parents Rob. You promised me revenge."

Rob felt the thrill of imagining Janet stabbing Charity with a stake and her turning to dust, which turned to images of him stabbing Janet, which turned to an image of Imogen on the floor. The thrill died as he turned to her. "Katherine has been trapped in her own body as that vampire has destroyed countless people. She is trapped, just like you were, except she has been trapped for years. If you want revenge, then imagine the vampire who murdered your family will forever be trapped unable to do anything inside her own body."

Janet stared at him for a moment, hands still covered in HER blood. "Okay. Barnaby, what do we do?" Barnaby started Janet and Violet in on the chanting while Violet began carving the sealing runes on Charity's body with the razor sharp blade and Layla slowly staggered over to Im-

Ned growled at him snapping his teeth. "Like, let me go, Rob. I'm so hungry. I'm like wasting away."

Robert turned to Ned "Ned, you are my friend and probably the one friend who wasn't hiding anything from me the past week. You are a strong and capable man and inside a very good person. I will help you pick up the pieces from this. You are being controlled by something ancient and evil, but you are stronger than it. I know you are. Please fight it."

 _You are banishing them for a millennium! Shattering them into dust on the wind! You think this makes up for what you did to your friends. The slayer may be broken without the witch, but she will kill you for it. You killed-  
_

 **Shut up!**

Ned stared up at him with his normal orange eyes for a moment before the orange glow faded. "Rob, like, I don't know what's happening. I, I can't feel anything. I'm scared." Rob could see the glow slowly enveloping his eyes, his whole body was glowing. 'Ned' was dying. Soon it would be nothing but 'Gluttony'.

"You don't have to be afraid. I will save you." Rob pressed the end of the railgun to Ned's head.

Ned was glowing, but his eyes were still Ned. A single tear passed down his face and he grinned with his vicious maw. "Do…it…"

Rob was reminded of when he shot Baktarby. He imagined at this distance he was as bloody as Violet was after that incident. His limbs were shaking, and he felt his stomach twist, but he didn't move his eyes away. There was a burst of orange light that almost bowled him over. The force of it spun him around to see his friends looking at him. Barnaby was staring at him with his mouth agape. Janet was already moving toward him with Violet right behind her, looking very uncomfortable. and Layla was sitting by Imogen. Someone had rolled her over to perform CPR, but Rob could calculate the amount of blood around her. She was gone. He had killed his first real friend. She was pouring her heart out to him and he shot her dead. He felt cold, Janet's voice sounded a million miles away.

Janet shook him trying to avoid looking at Ned's body behind him. "Rob. Robert please look at me. I need to know your okay."

 _Now she cares. She brought them here, told Layla and the others of your plans. She betrayed you, goading Layla and the others to come after you. She is the reason Imogen is dead._

 **No! I am the reason Imogen is dead. Her blood is on my hands by your provoking!** Rob felt his inner fury course through his body, waking his cold limbs. He would not be coerced into hurting any more of his friends. He looked down at Janet, who was crying and holding onto his arm like it was a lifeline.

Violet looked at him looking very uncomfortable. "Um, Rob your eyes are still, well, red. I think you need to remember that we are all friends now and uh…" Violet stopped. Her eyes glazed over and suddenly she stuck out at him. "You slept with the dead girl but you wouldn't sleep with me!" As sudden as the moment came it ended and Violet was staring at her hand in abject horror. Janet screamed as Rob looked down at his chest. The blade that Violet was using to carve runes into Charity was now lodged in his chest.

As soon as he noticed the blade, the pain hit. His body crumpled back against the wall, away form Ned's body. Barnaby shouted and ran over, pulling out his phone. Rob could see Layla scramble to get up her face white with terror. Rob felt himself crumple into the wall and onto the floor coughing and tasting copper. It was almost poetic how the blade had hit him in the same place his bolt had struck Imogen. _You're dying boy_. The pain was horrible, but he could still breathe. He could still talk. Imogen had given her life to try and break him from his possession. He wouldn't let her down by not saying his proper goodbyes. "Violet?" Violet was sitting on the ground staring at her bloody hand, which still held the knife. At her name she stared at him and he was surprised there was tears in her eyes "Violet, no one will blame you for this. I saw it in your eyes. You were forced to do it, likely because of me. Don't worry, I don't blame you." Violet seemed to get what he was doing and moved slightly toward him but stopped and looked down. She had been around long enough to know a mortal wound when she saw one.

Janet was holding a piece of cloth against his chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Rob, please stop talking. You need to stay strong until EMS gets here. Please Rob, just stay still."

Robert lifted his arm up to clasp her hands in his as she held the cloth to his chest. "I am sorry we never got to try that dating thing my brother says is fun." Janet started shaking. "You never betrayed me." He coughed again, it hurt, but it seemed to be fading. That wasn't a good sign. "Barnaby"

Barnaby was one the phone demanding the EMS get there faster, near hysterics. "No, Rob. You don't get to do the last goodbye stuff because your not dying!"

"Barnaby, please.."

"No, you will be fine. You will.."

"ENOUGH BARNABY!" Rob's yell was accompanied by a bloody coughing fit. His vision was foggy when he stopped, but he did notice that Layla was on his other side holding his arm tightly tears flowing freely. He had to make this quick. "Barnaby, this is going to break Dad. You need to be there for him. Don't let him slip into a dark place like I did." He held Barnaby's gaze for a moment before Barnaby nodded continuously, shaking and unable to form words. Rob looked to Layla. "Layla"

Layla buried her face in his shoulder shaking. "No. Rob. Please. Not you too."

Rob let the tears flow as he held onto Janet for support. "This isn't your fault. These sins are mine to bear. Thank you for bringing me into this world. Without you, I never would have found my brother or Janet. I'm sorry…" There was more to say. He wanted to continue, but his vision was too dark, the sound of blood pounding in his ears was drowning everything out. His chest spasmed with coughs but he could barely feel them. Then the pounding stopped.


	2. Wrath and Rob

**Wrath and Rob**

 **(This is a warning. This chapter touches on some very dark brain moments. I try to keep it as vague as I can, but I make no promises on how well I have done it. If you think this will cause problems for your own mental health, please do not read this fanfiction)**

Imogen's blood spread out from under her body slowly, rapidly cooling in the open air. Rob was standing over her staring. But, that wasn't right. He shot her from across the room so why was he standing over her. His right hand was closed over something that was struggling to move. Rob turned his head and immediately dropped what he was holding, Imogen's still beating heart. He backed up holding his hands over his face. This isn't what happened. If this was a nightmare he should have woken up by now. He spun around to put his back to Imogen, only to find Ned's body slumped against a wall, a fountain of red had stained the wall above his ruined skull. Laying on his side, facing Rob with his head laying in Ned's lap, was James. James' wide, cloudy eyes and perforated chest were clearly visible. Rob slammed his eyes shut and curled in on himself, barely noticing the cold on his bare skin. He knew where he was now. He was in Hell. His own personal Hell.

 _Personal indeed, boy_. Rob opened his eyes and turned toward the voice to see a cloud of blood red mist with a pair of obvious holes for 'eyes'. _This is a hell of your own making. Why does your brain wallow in such things?_

Rob stood up, just now realizing he was naked. "Why are you here. When I kill-." He had to swallow to bite back the pain the memory caused. "When I killed Ned, I saw Gluttony explode. It was the same thing that happened with Janet. I died, I know I did, so why are you here Wrath?"

The mist moved ever so slightly. _I didn't want to be scattered to the four winds. We were imprisoned for so long and even in my basic state, I knew I didn't want to be scattered. So, I sealed myself in your body and soul._

Rob wracked his brain for what the creature could be talking about. "So where are we now. Hell? Some demonic planar stand-in?"

 _We are in your mind, Robert. How pleasant this experience is, is entirely up to you._ Rob almost growled in frustration. He was going to speak, but suddenly he was seeing Imogen's last moments again. She clutched the wound he made in her chest, bleeding her life's blood as she begs him to fight Wrath. Rob screamed and slammed his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. _You can't hide from your own mind, boy. Why do you allow this to torment you? The witch is dead, nothing to be done now._

Rob felt the rage flow through him as he turned to face his semi-corporeal cellmate. "Nothing to be done! This is your fault! You made me kill her!"

The mist surrounded him. _Don't hide from your sins boy. You certainly can't hide them from me. I know every dark thought you ever had, every musing in the depth of your mind. She was your first real friend. You wanted to thank her the first time she sat beside you in class. She wasn't popular by any means, but she wasn't the outcast you were. Your presence hurt her reputation and you knew it. The fact burned you deep in your soul. You wanted to thank her every day for what she did to help you deal with your own crushing loneliness, but you never did. You were a coward, Robert Davidson._

"Stop talking about her! You have no right to speak anything about her. You're the reason she's dead!"

 _No, you're the reason she is dead. She was finding love with the Slayer, distancing herself from you. You didn't like that. You were in pain, your own weakness gnawing at you. You wanted her to notice, to have her help you like always, but she didn't._

"That's not true!"

 _Then why was it so easy to get a hold of you! Think, boy. You have a wonderful intellect. Do you not notice your own deeply ingrained rage?_

"What ingrained rage? I was angry because someone had hurt the woman I love. How would you classify that as 'deeply ingrained rage'?"

 _You read your tome of fate, Robert Gaius Davidson. Your rage started almost at the point of your birth. You were torn from the warm arms of your mother and straight into the hands of the Drox. Your brother was taken from you, turned into a filthy half-breed demon. Your own body was damaged almost beyond repair, much weaker than your genetics would have granted you. Your mother may have made you forget, but that just left your rage with no conduit. You turned it inward, throwing the focus you could use to cause great damage to your enemies on your studies and experiments._

"You're grasping at straws, Wrath. I don't have any ingrained rage. I focus on my studies, because I want to succeed. I want to make my parents proud of me."

 _You want to be in control. Control of your life. Control of how others see you, Control over those that would do you harm. You want power._

"Whose power? Yours? Your power achieved nothing but the death of my friends!"

 _That was unfortunate_.

"Unfortunate? That's what you call me shooting my best friend in the chest and watching her die? That's what you call me executing an innocent rugby lad who had gotten in way over his head?"

 _Yes, had I been more consolidated, I likely would have gone about it differently._

"Like what?"

 _A partnership_

"Fuck off." Rob turned away from the eyeholes in the red mist

 _That's fine. You don't have to decide now. We have time. I am getting smarter every day. Your brain is an immensely useful tool to return my cognizance. You have a lot of rage and a lot of grief inside you Robert Gaius Davidson. You should spend some time and look through your own mind. I will be here when you call._

The mist faded, and Rob sat down in the middle of what was now a simple white room, much like a padded cell for the mentally deranged. It certainly fit his current situation. Robert didn't want to listen to any advice from the voice of Wrath itself, but he found that he wasn't tired. He didn't feel anything that his body would normally tell him to do. No need for sleep, no need to eat, no need to relieve himself. He was truly trapped in his own mind.

At first, Rob did go through all his good memories of his friends, weeping openly as the juxtaposition of the last time he saw them to his memories ate at him. He wallowed in that for a while, even reliving every second of his fight with his friends with Ned and Charity. He relived it over and over, sometimes acting as himself while other times acting as a passive observer. Sometimes he even put himself in Imogen's place. Having himself shoot a whole through himself. He imagined the pain as best he could, but in this place, there was no pain. At least no physical kind of pain. He tried going back to the time he almost died to Der Kindestod, tracing the scares from where they still faintly showed on his chest, but they were still phantom sensations. He went back to where he first met Imogen. Focusing all his attention on every memory he had with her, tearing his own heart out but forcing himself to do it. Eventually, even that had no meaning anymore. They were just memories and he was alone. He couldn't tell how much time had passed before he finally spoke up from his huddled position in the corner of his fabricated padded room. "Wrath?"

 _Yes, Robert?_ The room changed to a hill in the median of the highway by his old home in Oxfordshire. Rob found himself leaning against a tree as a very androgynous humanoid shape made its way up the hill. The edges were still misty, not fully formed. The face was complete, an almost mirror version of his own, save for slightly more distinguished features, red eyes, and sharp, predatory teeth.

"Why would you think attempting to partner with me would be better for you than just coalescing a millennium from now?"

 _Because you intrigue me. So much rage stored in such a damaged, but intelligent vessel. You have taught me a great deal about how aggression and fury have been expressed since my imprisonment. Before we were imprisoned, the world was simpler. If someone angered you, you go after them and damage them in kind. Not so much anymore, which disappoints me. But, that is where you come in._

"How so?"

 _You are a demon hunter. It's in your blood and you have even fought beside one of the Slayers themselves, holding your own against demons who are powerful enough to declare themselves lords. Hunting demons that anger you or attack innocents can still be resolved the old way. I want you to continue doing what you are doing._

"Why would I let you control me again?"

 _You misunderstand. I just want to be a passenger._

"How do you expect me to fight demons on my own? You know for a fact that I am weak, broken from that failed Drox ritual all those years ago."

 _Do you think I have been spending all this time waiting for you to want to talk? I have been gaining power and molding your body to suit our needs. The damage the Drox had done to you has been repaired and I have ensured that your body has not atrophied in your inaction._

Rob stood up to regard the sin, who was slowly coalescing into a more dignified copy of Rob. "How exactly have you managed that?"

 _I have been keeping your body fed and oxygenated by altering your makeup and gathering nutrients from nearby plant matter._

"How much time has passed outside of my mind?"

 _I honestly wouldn't know. My senses do not extent to the point that I would be able to tell such things_

"Okay, what exactly are the rules for this contract Wrath?"

 _Symbiosis. We share this body. I can speak to you and we can converse on the best moves to make if you wish, though I suspect we will mostly think on the same wavelength. I am for all intents and purposes you by now. I can take control of this body with your permission to grant it additional power when we are in danger, but I am simply here to observe and to enjoy your rage and wanton destruction of those that have wronged you._

Rob thought about it for a moment before the realization hit him. This conversation was for show. Wrath had ingrained itself into his very soul by this point. Rob knew that he would have no problem killing demons that attacked people and he knew that Wrath would be more then happy to assist him. They were one and the same after all. "We have an accord, Wrath"

Rob's face grinned back at him with sharper teeth and red eyes. _"I was hoping you were going to say that, because from what I hear above us, there is a vampire trying to eat someone on top of your mother's grave."_

Rob stopped in his tracks. "Let's go, Wrath." The next instant, he was inhaling a deep, desperate breath of stale air. He couldn't see, but he felt a familiar object in his grasp. The Staff of Anubis. He almost mused that his friends were kind enough to bury him with a magic resistant device so that he wouldn't be raised from the dead, before realizing that he was buried 2 meters under the earth in a wooden box. He struck the lid hard, cracking it open and feeling grave dirt begin to trickle in. He dug frenziedly toward the surface, using the cane as a makeshift shovel. With his lungs burning from lack of oxygen, he burst forth from the ground, coughing and taking deep breaths. When he pulled himself fully out of the ground, he turned to see a man with a bumpy forehead who also looked like he just dug himself out of a grave. Rob noticed that even his victim had stopped her struggles. Rob sighed and dusted himself off. "Okay bloodsucker why don't you pick on me instead."

The vampire stared at him. "The fuck are you on about? You mean to tell me you aren't like me? You just crawled out of the grave yourself." The woman managed to struggle out of his grasp during the distraction and had managed to move toward Robert but was now looking between Rob and the vampire in concern.

Rob stretched his stiff muscles, noting he had grown a decent beard and was in desperate need of a haircut. How long had he been in the ground? "Yeah, I don't want to get into details with the poor fool who is going to be dust in a few moments. Wait right there a moment." Rob turned to address the scared woman. "This is going to sound weird, but what is the date?"

She looked flabbergasted. "A-April 24, 1999?"

Rob blinked. "Seriously? Well, then I guess I have had a pretty shit year. Hold on just a moment." Rob turned just in time to see the vampire leaping toward him. With apparently practiced ease, Rob swung the cane like a club and sent the vampire sprawling on the ground. With two quick steps, Rob closed in on the creature and stabbed the wooden end of the cane through the vampire's rib cage and dusted him. "That worked pretty well. I am assuming you had something to do with how well that went?"

 _You need to know how to fight, if you are going to combat the forces of darkness alone._

Rob nodded and turned back to see that the woman was running through the cemetery at top speed. He sighed and looked around. There was no one else around, but there was a shovel nearby. Rob quickly filled in the hole he created in the ground as best he could. There was no reason to cause his father to have a heart attack at seeing something crawl out of his dead son's tombstone. After completing his work, he looked down at his suit, now torn and covered in grave dirt, before looking back at the tombstones. The older one read, "Alice Davidson – Beloved Wife and Mother. She will be missed." The other was his own with his date of death labeled as April 26th 1998. It was surreal, staring at his own tombstone, but Rob's mind worked quickly to figure out his next step. He was back in Oxfordshire with his mother. He noticed that the empty plots around his and his mother's graves hadn't been filled, so likely Barnaby had purchased them. Rob felt good about that. That meant that his sins hadn't led to the death of Barnaby or their father in the near year he had been in the ground.

 _What are you going to do now, Robert?_

Rob smirked and started walking out of the cemetery. "First, we need a shower and a trim, then we catch the next bus to Little Rosewater. If we are going to kill demons, then we are going to help Layla and the rest. We start in the shadows and we will see from there."

 _You don't want to see your friends again._

 **I want to see them more than anything in the world**. He didn't even try and stop the tears from flowing as he made his way to the closest bank. A little hacking would get him money for a hotel, and then he would be able to start his journey back to where his family and friends were.


	3. The Voice in His Head

**The Voice in His Head**

Rob sat in the back of the bus, can between his legs with both of his hands folded over it. The bus was mostly empty and the few occupants that were on it didn't seem to want to chat, so Rob was content to sit alone as far away as possible. He took in the surroundings as the bus slowly but surely began the journey toward Imogen's home village. Rob had managed to hack an ATM and acquire enough cash to support him for a little while. The hotel employee was very dubious about him when he walked in covered in mud, leaning on a cane, with long, unruly hair, but eventually gave him a room. He took three showers before he felt actually clean again. He took a good look at himself in the mirror when he was done using a razor and a pair of scissors to trim his hair down to its normal shortness and trim his now full beard. He was taller then he was before, much more muscled as well. He imagined he was at least as tall as Barnaby now. He imagined the shock on Barnaby's face if he saw his beard and decided to leave it alone. Whatever Wrath had done to Rob's body, it was now well sculpted and powerful. 'A body worthy of a proper demon slayer' Wrath had said.

 _What are you musing on now, Robert?_ Wrath didn't bother him a lot but tended to poke him just when Rob was starting to get very distracted by thoughts.

 **Just reveling in the new body you have given us, Wrath.** Rob had started getting used to forming coherent messages in his head. He didn't enjoy it as it was difficult for him to articulate things well, but he imagined it would stop any unnecessary attention. He let his mind drift in the silence, thinking back to the trip he made down the Imogen's village for Christmas. From the confrontation with Barnaby to the gifts from James, the trip was certainly an emotional roller coaster. Imogen was with him every step of the way, chasing him into the woods to talk him out of his rage and despair. **I can see why you made her a focus. She was one of the ones who could tear you out of me.**

 _I would agree with that. At the time she was your closest friend so emotions and thoughts around her were easy to manipulate._ Rob shook his head. It still hurt thinking about the day she died, even after spending a good portion of a year reliving it. He had come to terms with it and now he wanted to tell her, as well as he was able, everything he should have said while she was alive. _It is only a day before the first anniversary of your death. You are taking a big risk going to her gravesite today._

As the bus pulled to a stop, Rob stood up and walked out of the bus and down the street, the cane clacking against the asphalt. **It isn't something I expect you to understand. Your existence was constant rage and aggression. Humans need closure to put some emotions behind them and evolve.** He didn't get a response to that, but he could feel that Wrath was content with the explanation. After a few kilometers of walking, he came across the local cemetery. He was thankful that due to it being in the middle of the day, there weren't any people there besides himself. He felt numb as he made his way toward the grave and stood in front of it.

Imogen Parker

Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Friend

10/06/1981 – 26/04/1998

Rob let a small smile grace his face. "Hey Imogen. It's…been a while" He sighed. "This isn't going to work." He walked behind the tombstone and sat down, leaning his back against the cold stone. "That should work better." Rob closed his eyes and raised his head toward the sky. "I have wallowed in the memory of that night for so long, thinking about what I would say when I visited." He smirked slightly imagining the look of indignation on her face. "Thank you. I would apologize for the obvious, but honestly, I am thankful. I look back at everyone's actions that day and I think that you dying was the only thing that was going to break me away enough to turn the fight in our favor. Knowingly or unknowingly, you saved everyone else with that last desperate act to break me away from Wrath. But I am not just thankful for that." He let the tears flow as he poured out all the repressed emotions he failed to express to his best friend while she was alive. When he finished he allowed the natural sounds of the outside world wash over him for a moment.

Rob? Rob is that you?

Rob opened his eyes and looked around confused. "I-Imogen?" There was no one around him. He waved the cane around his general area but hit nothing.

Oh, thank god. I have been looking for you for a while, but I couldn't find you any time I tried to look in on the others. You didn't go and get yourself killed did you. Oh, fuck did the head angel throw you in prison because you let the sins out with that call to heaven?

"Is that what happened? Fuck, so it was all my fault after all." He shook his head. "I will stew on that later. Where the hell are you? I can't see you."

We're in Heaven, you silly scientist. I don't know why I can't see you though.

 _It seems my modifications to your body had some unexpected side effects._

Who is that?

 _Good to speak with you Ms. Imogen Parker. I am Wrath._

What? How the hell did you get into Heaven?

Rob sighed heavily. "The only dead one in this conversation is you, Imogen. God, that is a weird sentence."

Wait, you mean I didn't break Wrath away from you? But, that doesn't make any sense. I saw the others for a moment after the fight, when they buried me. You should have destroyed the world by now, right?

Rob leaned his head back against the cold stone. "Probably. Let me give you the quick notes. I killed you, you gave me the ability to temper Wrath long enough to incapacitate Charity, Barnaby sealed Charity with that spell he found, I tried to break Ned out of it, Ned faltered and started to manifest, I killed Ned, and then Violet killed me. Now how are you talking to me right now?"

There were a few moments of silence. What? Wait, if you're dead and you're not up here, where are you?

 _This is conversation is going to go in circles while the bystanders call the authorities about the insane man talking to himself. Robert has been trapped in his body with myself for the past year. I have made some adjustments to his body in that time, which has caused some supernatural effect likely acting as a conduit for you to communicate Imogen._

Wait, does that mean I can contact you whenever I want?

Rob blinked and stood up, looking around to check for observers while waiting for Wrath's reply. _You can remain here if you wish. I know your current location can be quite boring._

What, like possess Rob as a ghost?

 _I could make room._

Rob blinked and held up his hands to open air. "Wait a moment, aren't you in Heaven, Imogen? Shouldn't you be conten- Never mind, you are Imogen Parker which means contentment will just bore you." He laughed slightly shaking his head while Imogen cackled from the air around him. "You know what, fuck it. If you want to be a spectator in the insanity that my life is turning into, then I am sure Wrath can pull you up a chair." Suddenly, Rob's limbs locked up and he fell to the ground shaking. An intense cold spread throughout his body before an intense heat spread from the center of his chest, feeling like his blood was boiling. After a few moment of being unable to breath, Rob took a deep breath. He stood up on shaky legs and ran a hand through his sweat covered scalp. "Well. That was interesting."

You alright, Rob? Her voice sounds like it was spoken directly in his ear, just like Wrath's did, but from the other side. Wow, you have a lot of memories in here.

 _The wonders of photographic memory_.

I still don't trust you, Passion, Sin, Wrath….whatever you call yourself.

 _You don't need to trust me, witch. I am here to observe and experience, same as you._

Robert begins his trek back to the bus stop trying to wonder only to himself about which of the two voices in his head would be the 'angel'. As he looked for the next bus to Greater Rosewater, Imogen spoke.

Rob, about all the thanks you were heaving onto my gravestone?

"Yes?"

You're an idiot. You don't need to thank you for being your friend. I don't blame you for –

"Imogen?"

Yes Rob?

"I'm glad your back, thank you for everything."

What did I just say about thanking me?

"Well I am not taking any of it back so you are going to have to deal with it."

Wha…but I… When did you get so stubborn?

"I learned from the best"

Ha ha

Imogen's sarcastic, scathing voice in his head made him smirk and he could feel a tear well up in his eye. "Love you too, Imogen." That kept her quiet for a little while as he boarded the next bus to Greater Rosewater.


End file.
